Ten AGs Filed Amicus Brief Defending DOE’s Energy Efficiency Standards after Lawsuit by American Public Gas Association

NOVEMBER 21, 2022

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 10 attorneys general in joining non-profit organizations and the City of New York in an amicus brief defending the Department of Energy’s (DOE) updates to energy efficiency standards for boilers that are used in commercial and multifamily residential buildings. The American Public Gas Association challenged DOE’s final rule over issues that, according to the AGs’ brief, DOE has already addressed. For example, after a previous lawsuit claimed that DOE did not have “perfect empirical or statistical data” to support the updated standards, DOE issued a response explaining its data modeling and pointing to precedent that allows an agency to use available data when “perfect” data does not exist. In their brief, the AGs urged the court to deny American Public Gas Association’s petition for review and affirm DOE’s final rule, which is estimated to save up to $2 billion in consumer utility bills and avoid 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over 30 years.